Well, we don't know how far you'll make it, but with your keen memory and grand people skills you're still on the Island (congratulations), and from the previews from next week's show, it looks like you just might make it another tribal council.

Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Tang Wei have both been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for their roles in Lust, Caution. Tang Wei is nominated in the Best Female Lead category and Tony Leung has been nominated in the best Male Lead category.

If you're on the lookout for a new movie to add to your collection, Mira Nair's film The Namesake, starring Kal Penn and based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, was just released on DVD.

"Why do I think Céline had the sales and I didn't? Because she's a white girl," LaBelle tells the Canadian-owned magazine based in Monaco. "You want me to be honest? That's why. People pay more respect to white artists who sing well before they do black women," she says. "I've been singing for 45 years and that's an obstacle that I'm still ... I'm getting over it because I'm fabulous. You know, so you can't beat me up. You can't make me feel less than I am because whenever I get the microphone I'm gonna show you who I am. But the industry is very racist."

Always good for a laugh (and aren't you amazed at all the great characters she plays?) - check out how resident YouTube comedian Happy Slip - and #4 most subscribed of all time - spends Thanksgiving in Tanks.

Also - make sure to vote for Happy Slip for the Newsmaker of 2007 down at The Filipino Channel - only two days left!

One year after the death of his best friend, Sam Kim returns to Los Angeles determined to find redemption from the past. His mentor and only friend, DON, is a retired gangster with a parallel desire to leave the former world behind. But as Sam tries to balance revenge with reconciliation, he is drawn into the shadowy world he had left behind. Can Sam undo his mistakes before losing what he came back to save?

The trailer also has the slick track Smile from Far*east Movement. Check out more about the film, cast, and opening dates down at the film's website.

It really does make you wish that we could all resolve things better, because while you can be happy that the verdict came in guilty and the sentence is strong (as it should be) - James Nichols is being sentenced to 69 years - two families have to endure extreme loss, and a region that was supposed to be getting better, is still filled with racial tension:

Vang, a 30-year-old father of five, was found Jan. 6 in a wildlife refuge where Nichols had also been hunting squirrels. Vang had a 3- to 4-inch wooden stick in his clenched teeth, and his body was hidden in a depression covered with a log and other debris. An autopsy indicated he was hit by a shotgun blast and stabbed five times [...]

Nichols did not testify during his week-long trial, but the jury heard tape recordings in which he told law enforcement officials he acted in self-defense after Vang shot him. Nichols said the fight started after he told Vang to leave because he was interfering with his hunt.

Nichols said he ducked behind a tree and took a "wild shot" at Vang with a shotgun. Vang shot him again before Nichols rushed him, took away his gun and stabbed him in the neck with a pocketknife, he said. But Nichols also told authorities Hmong people are bad, mean and "kill everything and that they go for anything that moves."

Anyone who says the stereotypical portrayals of Asians in American movies has little impact on the culture at-large needs only to look at the 1946 film Tokyo Rose. At the time, it helped shape the false image of Iva Toguri, aka Tokyo Rose, as a manipulative traitor to the American cause.

The Fire Department’s pool of black and Hispanic job candidates has more than doubled since 2002, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday, raising hopes that efforts to hire more minority firefighters might be yielding results.

A widely performed school play has been canceled by officials at a suburban Cincinnati high school after complaints from a local NAACP official. Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" was to be performed by students at Lakota East High School this weekend.

Congratulations to Zhang Yang for winning the Audience Award at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival with his black comedy buddy movie Getting Home, about a farmer who labors to bring his dead friend's body back home.

“The Asian Art Museum is a critical cultural resource for the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Steve Silvestri, Bank of America’s San Francisco market president. “As public resources for arts education in our schools diminish, there is an increasing role for the private sector to help fund important arts and culture education.”

“It’s a wonderful gift,” said Stephanie Kao, manager of school and teacher programs for the museum. “Bank of America is allowing us to put thought into how we want to craft our programs.”

Among the initial goals, Kao said, is to consolidate current resources to help determine exactly how to enhance learning. Currently, the museum serves some 15,000 students per year; the grant money will help increase that number — including reaching out, via the Internet, to students who can’t come to the museum.

To celebrate the grant the museum will be having an Open House/Community day this Saturday from 10 - 5 P.M.

Not that this should really surprise anyone, but here's just another reason to keep on kicking Pat Buchanan's ass - check out the article down at ¡Ya basta! talking about what really scares Buchanan about immigration - that's right (you knew it was coming): it's the Latino population.

Every now and then you have corrections, and this blog is no different. In two previous blog posts, Dr. Sven Haakanson was incorrectly identified as not being an Alaskan native. Posts, have been revised, the Boone's Farm Wine has been put away. You're still sexy. Here's to my Alaskan peeps and fact checkers.

If you're in the neighborhood check out Insatiable!, Seattle's Asian American Playwright's Festival, some who you might know from the Pork Filled Players:

SIS Productions, the creators of the popular Sex in Seattle series, is thrilled to present Insatiable! Seattle's 2nd Asian American Playwright's Festival, a day-long festival of new play readings by local Asian American playwrights on Saturday, December 1, 2007. All readings will be at Prima Vera Arts Center, located at 112 5th Avenue North, 2nd Floor.

If you like R & B, Ne-Yo, and Utada - you'll definitely want to check out the single for their music collaboration Do Youwhich was just released digitally in Japan this November 21st for Ne-Yo's worldwide expansion. The single has a great vibe, good beats, and as always, each respective singer sounds nice and smooth.

If you're down near Berkley this Wednesday, check out the screening of the 1997 Justin Lin and Quentin Lee film Shopping for Fangs about a wannabe lesbian waitress who has a Marilyn Monroe complex. The film is being shown as part of Berkley's One Way, or “the Other”: Asian American Film and Video series where you'll "see films that are preoccupied with issues of identity, like Chan Is Missing; others, like Quentin Lee’s Shopping for Fangs, that settle for settings with an ethnic bent; and still others that find their identity elsewhere, in punk culture or sexual orientation, like Moritsugu’s Mod Fuck Explosion".

There's really not much else to say except that the waiting has begun for the release of the next Jay Chou and Charlene Choi flick Kung Fu Dunk (2008) about a young orphan who grows up learning martial arts and then becomes basketball wunderkind. Rumors have it that Yao Ming was supposed to have a cameo in the movie as well (but it never materialized).

The NY Daily News and the NY Post are reporting a story about the recent string of muggings on Asian American men and women in Brooklyn. Both of the articles total anywhere from eight to ten muggings spanning from August until November, and while the police are in "discussions about the crimes with the area's Asian-American community", and agree that the crimes do have a pattern, they still have no suspects to date.

Nice. Check out the article at the CBC Arts Media on the movie Yellow Fellas and its look at the angry asian man. Included in the article are also some interesting thoughts on how Asian men are looked at and portrayed in the media, and whether or not being too angry can be counter-productive. There's some good quotes and insight by Eric Nakumura from Giant Robot, as well as Tak Toyoshima of Secret Asian Man.

Interesting article down at New American Media on the state of harassment in schools against Asian American students. One of the figures that jumps out at you is that 31 percent of 75 California school districts do not have any anti-harassment or anti-violence policies in place.

In a previous post about People's sexiest men issue, one of the men who was featured in the magazine was Dr. Sven Haakanson, listed as the Sexiest Anthropologist. Dr. Sven (an Alaskan native) was nice enough to send a photo down with him and his friendly companion - thanks Doc - so let this serve as a lesson to all you young girls and boys who aren't sure if science can be sexy - it can.

We all understand. Every now and then you just need to grab a smoke with some buddies and just hang out. But those of you smoking 20+ cigarettes a day be warned - everytime you pick up a smoke you risk losing your hair (not to mention possibly something like cancer). Think about it for a second - as great as a cigarette is with a cup of coffee, a good beer, some nice wine, after a meal, after sex - well anything is good after sex - is it really worth losing that big 'ol head of beautiful thick Asian hair?

Just keep the presses rolling on this one - there's a great and in-depth article with director Michael Kang (The Motel) discussing his new film West 32nd with John Cho, Jun Kim, Grace Park, and Jane Kim in the Korea Times. In the interview Kang talks about why he chose to make the movie in NY versus LA, about Koreans on film, as well as some of his upcoming projects, one of which he describes as a cross between The Swingers and Kim Ki-duk - sounds cool.

The Vietnamese aren't going back. Not ever. Asian Indians, even though they are the newest arrivals to Silicon Valley, own the most valuable real estate. Mexicans are the youngest. And the Chinese, though many lack the English skills of some immigrant groups, are thriving in business. One strand unites the disparate immigrant groups of Silicon Valley: They may be less lonely than the rest of us. At least, they are less likely to divorce, or to live alone.

One of the more damaging assumptions that stems from the “model minority” myth is that Asian Americans don’t need anyone’s help — they’re too busy quietly succeeding. Perhaps this is contributing to the stagnant rate of philanthropic giving to the AAPI community.

Advocates for Asian-American students in recent years have repeatedly called for more differentiation among racial and ethnic groups. Classifying third- and fourth-generation Chinese Americans with recent arrivals from Vietnam doesn’t make much sense, they have argued, and hides the realities that many Asian Americans are educationally disadvantaged.

The University of California will revamp its undergraduate application to find out more about the Pacific Rim students who have become UC's dominant face. Nextyear's application will expand the number of Asian-American and Pacific Islander categories to 23 -- a nearly threefold increase from the current eight categories. The ethnic identification will continue to be optional and will not figure into admissions decisions, administrators said.

If you get a chance, you should check out the the LA Times article and retrospective on Bill Hosokawa - journalist, World War II internment survivor, and author of the book Nisei: The Quiet Americans (one of the 10 books he wrote). It details not only his successes as one of the top Asian American journalists, but also the prejudice and racism that he had encountered along the way and how he overcame those obstacles.

While you can lament that out of 137 men featured in People magazine's Sexiest Man/Men issue there are only 7 of them that are Asian - at least there's some representation - so it's a start - and before going into who they didn't pick up on, here's a breakdown of the Asian men that are in the issue - congratulations you sexy Asian men:

From the Sexy at any age section

Ken Watanabe 40's

Sendhil Ramamurthy 30's

M. Night Shyamalan 30's

Jackie Chan 50's

From the Simply Sexy section

Will Yun Lee - Sexiest Fighter

From the Year of the nerd section

Masi Oka

From the Movie Characters section

Keanu Reeves

Left off and wondering

Other than Keanu (whose father is of Chinese and Hawaiian decent) there were no other Asian men in the Movie Characters section, which begs the question of how you can have Dennis Quaid and Colin Firth, but dare to leave off someone like Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Andy Lau, Jet Li, or Bruce or Brandon Lee? People magazine picked up on international actors like Gael Garcia Bernal, and Hugh Grant, but neglected to pick up on any of the above actors.

Tony Leung Chiu Wai

And since there was a dearth of Asian men in the Movie Characters section, it should come as no surprise to anyone that there wasn't a single Asian man in the Sexy Songs section - nada, zilch, zip - and again here, they also choose to look at international singers and bands.

Rain

So how can anyone leave off one of the most influential Asian male entertainers, Rain, from that list? And if they thought Rain was too Asian - what about Doug Robb from Hoobastank - if UB40 can be put into that section, Hoobastank's "The Reason" should be able to get picked up there as well.

The votes are in, no recounts are needed - at least by the British Newspaper Eastern Eye - and according to the paper and the voters, Bipasha Basu, former Ford Supermodel Of The World, and holder of the title in 2005, has been voted as the Sexiest Asian Woman again in 2007. On her title Basu had this to say:

I think sexiness goes beyond looks and is a total package, from your personality to the way you carry yourself in your everyday life. I'm really grateful to all who voted for me because I work very hard,' added the actress, who is looking forward to her next release "Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal"

The NY Times is reporting that two women are currently being recommended for vacant White House Federal benches in Brooklyn and Manhattan - one of which is Kiyo Ann Matsumoto, who if nominated and voted in would be the first Asian-American judge to fill that position.

There's a good article down at AsianWeek, which gives some interesting statistics about Asian-American writers in Hollywood - among them:

Between 2000-2005, the biggest increase in WGA membership has been with Asian Americans (81.7 percent).From 1999 to 2005, there was a 158.3 percent increase for Asian American TV writers; film writers increased 91.7 percent.

But it's not all it's cracked up to be - read it in full here and why they say the writers strike matters to the Asian American community.

Just when you thought Microsoft was taking over the world through their Xbox game console, they get smacked down by Singapore who decided to ban the game "Mass Effect" because it contained a scene which depicted a woman and a female alien character kissing and caressing each other.

If you've been listening to the news - any news - you know that there's a writers strike in Hollywood - and you know that everyone is getting behind the writers, including high profile actors which is helping the cause - which is great to see.

One of those not only picketing, but also putting her voice out on viral video is Sandra Oh from the ever popular ABC show Grey's Anatomy. Check out some of her thoughts from the videos below.

both the heirs to the Benihana restaurant-chain, founded by their father Rocky Aoki, is coming out with his first CD called Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles under his own label (Dim Mak) and the Thrive label.

The new CD should be out this January 22 - here are some links to reviews on DJ Aoki as well as his new release:

Expect cut-ups of a who's who of nu-rave and other up-to-the-second electronauts—including the first US appearance of the latest UK phenom, Does It Offend You, Yeah?—while heps like Har Mar Superstar, Kid Sister, Mickey Avalon, Pase Rock, Santo Gold, Uffie and more add guest pipes throughout.

Steve Aoki has been featured in Vanity Fair (pictured with K-Fed, among others), on the cover of the Los Angeles Times’ magazine, and in L.A. Weekly many times. He’s usually hailed as the hottest DJ in Hollywood, a spinner-to-the-stars who’s been spotted helping Lindsay Lohan throw down a track or two. During Ibiza, Spain’s summer clubbing ritual, he was awarded the annual “Set of the Season” DJ prize.

If you don't already have a charity that you give to regularly - or even if you do - check out Give2Asia (founded by The Asia Foundation) who works around the world helping to responsibly and effectively give to local projects around Asia - some of which include helping to prevent trafficking of women and children in Vietnam.

Through Verizon Wireless HopeLine grants, three San Francisco organizations working with domestic abuse victims in the Asian American community will be getting some extra needed help:

Verizon Wireless will mark the awarding of over $43,000 in grants through its HopeLine(R) Program with a ceremony honoring three San Francisco Bay Area community-based organizations working to aid victims of domestic violence and promote prevention awareness in the Asian-American community. San Francisco Police Chief, Heather Fong will assist in presenting the HopeLine awards to the Asian Women's Shelter, Asian Americans for Community Involvement and Chinese Community Health Resource Center at a ceremony on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at R&G Lounge in San Francisco.

The prices of kimchi can also fluctuate like barrels of oil, and while not threatening the demise of economies world-wide, it is an interesting and light note from around the globe, because when you think about it - who knew a radish and some cabbage could cause so much havoc?

This year’s frequent rains have put a damper on the cabbage and radish harvest. This will likely boost their prices up to 2 to 3 times last year’s. Kimchi-preparing costs will soar if that happens. According to the Korean Rural Economic Institute’s “Vegetable Observer Monthly” report [...]

Amid a surge in the price of cabbage to around W4,000 per head before the traditional kimchi-making season, imported kimchi from China hit a record high[...]

Space Cabbage

On another kimchi note - everyone from the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute to noodle maker Nongshim is working hard to ensure that the first Korean astronaut, set to go up in April, will have appropriate food in space:

Korean food manufactures are competing to whip up space-edible foods for Ko San, Korea's first astronaut who will lift off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in April. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is working on kimchi with domestic food maker CJ and instant noodles with Nongshim. The Korean Food Research Institute is also developing space-safe fried kimchi, hot pepper paste and soy bean paste, rice, red ginseng and green tea with Daesang and Ottogi.

Even though she was not much taller than the podium, Rigoberta Menchú Tum’s message was big: racism is a sickness. Dressed in the traditional indigenous huipil, Menchú lectured about peace to more than 250 people Friday evening at MU’s Memorial Union. The Guatemalan Nobel Peace Laureate was greeted with a standing ovation when she walked in.

Some Hamline University football players dressed as African tribesman in blackface attended a Halloween party as "spooks." Earlier this year, a pair of Macalester College students wore blackface, a noose and a Ku Klux Klan outfit. At the University of St. Thomas, several students received racist hate mail under their door a few weeks ago.

Activists accused Dobbs of prejudice against immigrants because he supports the controversial Minuteman project, a militia-style group seeking to prevent illegal border crossings. "He is, without question, a racist," said one protestor at the San Diego campus of the University of California. "He is against the Hispanic people from everywhere, especially Mexico."

Should freshmen be told that they are racist as soon as they arrive on campus? This may seem like a ridiculous question, but one that must be asked after the University of Delaware announced last Friday that it would suspend its diversity training program for first-year students. Since its inception in August, the program has drawn heat at the university and nationally because of its controversial content.

A pair of tickets is being given away for Margaret Cho's Off-Broadway variety show The Sensous Woman. Basically all you have to do is post a comment to her MySpace blog post about the giveaway, and they'll pick a winner this Thursday from one of the comment posters - which could be you. Here's the full information from the Cho bulletin:

Hey Cho Friends,

Margaret's new Off-Broadway variety show, The Sensuous Woman, is winding down at The Zipper Factory in New York. There are only six shows left this week! Tickets and show info available here.

We've got a pair of tickets* to the 8pm show on Saturday, November 17th to give away to a friend of Margaret's. If you'd like the tix, just post a comment in her blog entry about the giveaway. We'll assign a number to each entry, then draw a winner and announce it in her myspace blog on Thursday at 11am PST.

Good Luck!!

*Offer is for 2 tickets only, and does not include travel, accomodations or any other costs associated with attending the show. If you are the winner, we will contact you through MySpace with all of the details.

There is an interesting article in the NY Times on a Vietnamese woman, adopted as a young child - who thirty-seven years later is still searching for her history and trying to find the truth from her father, who served in Vietnam:

My dad had been serving his tour of duty in Vietnam when he’d decided to adopt. He and my mother had already had two boys and wanted a girl. In 1970, toward the last six months of his tour, he’d come across me in an orphanage and taken me home. At least, that’s what I’d been told as a child.

It's an interesting look into how decades later, the war in Vietnam still has a riveting effect on not just politics - but real people - Asian children transplanted, now grown.

Who doesn't like something Asian and free? AsiaNetwork.ca, in addition to publishing their quarterly magazine in print, is also putting it online - and right now you can get a free issue of the magazine by clicking here. Chock full of Asian goodness with a slick layout, it's worth the download - and for all of you Battlestar Galactica-heads out there - the issue also has an interview with Grace Park, who dishes on sex, work, and the Korean Film Festival.

If there's any justice in this world - and any justice for the 1.7 million executed and tortured - more of those who served under the Pol Pot regime will be captured and brought to trial and made to be held accountable just like IengSary - who along with his wife was taken from an opulent villa in PhnomPenh and finally taken into custody.

Police and security guards from Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal arrested former Khmer Rouge foreign minister IengSary on Monday, the third Pol Pot henchman to be taken into custody by the U.N.-backed court.

Police and officials from Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge genocide trial today arrested the movement's former foreign minister and his wife, who were among the most senior cadres in the regime responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people in the "killing fields".

Police officers and security guards in Cambodia on Monday arrested IengSary, the foreign minister of the former Khmer Rouge government. He was the third Pol Pot aide to be taken into custody by a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal.

Actor Wesley Snipes is trying to get his tax evasion case moved from Ocala to New York. Snipes said he believes Marion County, where the trial is supposed to be held, is too racist for him to get a fair trial.In court papers filed this week, Snipes' lawyer said Ocala is located in an area that's "a hotbed of Klan activity."

Almost 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against racially discriminatory language in property deeds, Duke University has waived its right to enforce regulations in Duke Forest deeds that prohibit property purchases by blacks.

The historical covenants ban the presence of any "Negro blood," except for that of servants, on the property that is now home to university research and recreation. The 1948 Supreme Court decision invalidated such discrimination, making any act to waive it purely symbolic.

Here are some jaw-droppingly horrible pictures from various race-themed parties that I collected earlier this year thanks to good reporting and students who are unwise enough to put their pictures on the internet.

What else are you going to say and do though - really - after a racist career ruining tirade like the one he just had? Are there any surprises to his going on Larry King, apologizing (with a B.S. excuse) - tucking his tail between his legs - saying he thought he was black so he could use the N-word uttering "I now learned I’m not black at all"?

Really Duane? You're not black? Who the hell told you this?

But for all the people apologizing for using racial slurs - Duane takes the cake because now he wants to be buried at a historic slave burial ground near George Washington’s Mount Vernon home, saying "I want to be buried right where they’re at because I will never be forgiven as (long as) I’m alive."

Whoever's even thinking about letting Dog The Bounty Hunter get a burial plot there should be fired immediately - no questions asked. If Dog The Bounty Hunter gets to be buried there, why not just get a top 100 list of racist people, dig up some plots and do a kind of half and half theme?

“I am very excited to be associated with the MTV Style Gala in Shanghai, not only because of my own personal interest and passion in influencing the style and trends of today’s youth, but it makes more sense now, more than ever, with the rising influence of China in the fashion world. I look forward to coming to Shanghai to experience this first hand,” Hilton said in a statement.

The multi-hyphenate will make her Chinese debut at the 2007 MTV Style Gala on November 23 at Shanghai’s Grand Stage. Event is jointly run by MTV Networks China, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and CCTV 6 and will include notables from all over mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, including Liu Ye, Shin, S.H.E., Anthony Wong, Sammi Cheng, and Vicki Zhao.

Paris Hilton stepping on the same stage as Vicki Zhao and Sammi Cheng? Something just seems very wrong with that...let's hope everyone has gotten their vaccinations.

While the blog posts have been going since last month, AZN Television's new forum/blog/discussion area Outspoken seems to just be getting press released now and looks like it could be a pretty interesting mix:

AZN Television, the network for Asian Americans, has launched Outspoken, a new community forum on azntv.com. Outspoken was developed to provide visitors with a platform for discussions on current events, lifestyle and cultural issues. The new forum, at www.azntv.com/outspoken, includes weekly postings. The areas of racism, citizenship, interracial dating, and weight are among the first issues to be discussed.

“We created Outspoken to further connect with our viewers by offering them a forum that addresses the issues affecting the Asian American community,” said Bill Georges, Senior Vice President, Advertising and Affiliate Sales, AZN Television. “With insights from Beau Sia and Ishle Park, intern journalists' postings, and comments from viewers, it's going to be a lively spot for interaction and debate."

AZN Television has partnered with the Asian American Journalists Association (“AAJA”) to recruit student interns as contributing writers for Outspoken. The interns will provide AZN with one to two commentaries each month on issues affecting the Asian American community. Lena Wong, a sophomore at Swarthmore College majoring in Film and Media Studies, and Emma Carew, a junior at the University of Minnesota majoring in Journalism, were the first student interns selected. New interns will be selected each semester.

In addition, two of the Asian American community’s top poets – Beau Sia and Ishle Park - are providing their perspectives on the issues. The forum also encourages visitors to get involved with the discussions by submitting their own thoughts and opinions.

"AZN is a vehicle for how we wish to be viewed by ourselves, and those interested in the richness and diversity we possess,” said Sia. “Our involvement determines the course of this vehicle. This new addition to the AZN website will give everyone an opportunity to become involved. We decide."

“AZN provides a necessary forum for young Asian American artists like Beau and myself to speak to our communities about real issues and topics of importance to our folks,” said Park.

If you wondered what exactly a Manwuyan was, you weren't alone - not by a long shot - but apparently it is the oldest (or claims to be) playable instrument in the world and is permitted by the Chinese Cultural Heritage Administration to be played only five times a year, with its first, last, and only tour of Seoul to be held from Nov. 11-15 of this year before it gets designated as a national treasure:

Here's a snippet from The Korea Times on the instrument as well as the Seoul tour:

Those interested in a novel musical ― and historical ― experience will have a chance to hear the Nanzhao Classical Music Ensemble revive an ancient sound at Coste Hall in Myeong-dong Cathedral's Cultural Center, central Seoul. This is a truly unprecedented occasion, for the relic has rarely traveled within China.

When it was unearthed in 1998 in Yinnan Province, the manwuyan was in almost immaculate condition, being immediately playable despite minor damages by rodents. Several string instruments have been excavated so far, but none of them functioned. Verified as originating from the late 12th century, the manwuyan is the world's oldest playable instrument.

Twenty-eight years ago, Vida Vongsay had no idea she would end up being a ballroom dancing teacher. She was living in a refugee camp in Thailand, waiting in line for rice soup. At the age of 6, she and her family fled Communist Laos for Thailand, hiding under a pile of fruit and vegetables in a boat crossing the Mekong River separating the two countries.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) executives were urged by lawmakers Tuesday to settle lawsuits launched against it by relatives of dissidents jailed in China as a result of its cooperation with Chinese authorities. At a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan were asked by lawmakers what they had done for the families of the two dissidents.

The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of Oakland Vice Mayor At-Large Henry Chang, and named him Northern California Co-Chair for "Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for Hillary."

"Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience to bring about the change this country needs," said Vice Mayor Chang. "She recognizes the importance of the AAPI community, and is committed to equal rights and expanding opportunity for all Americans."

Most entrepreneurs work hard and dream big. Others are content with doing business with small local companies, rather than aim for contracts with large corporations and federal and state governments. If you want your business to take a bigger slice of the procurement pie, then certification could be your passport to success. Certification provides an environment to maximize participation by minority, women and disabled veteran businesses in corporate and federal government contract awards. You could tap into a rich vein, commonly known as the “supply diversity” program, which sets aside billions of dollars annually in procurement contracts to certified minority businesses.

A year after the state elected its first African-American governor, minority candidates on some local ballots stirred hope of greater diversity Tuesday. When the votes were counted, they came up short of their goals in Brockton, Lawrence, and Quincy, but in Fitchburg an Asian-American mayoral candidate clobbered her more experienced opponent with 75 percent of the vote. Worcester appeared to have elected a woman mayor for the first time.

If you're looking for some stage theater action to get into - full scale productions, intimate settings, productions backed by Nobel Laureates, even improv or sketch comedy - look no further. Below is a list from around the country of active groups and organizations looking to promote Asian Americans and their voices (a couple of which you may recognize from previous posts).

Note: Descriptions for each of the listings in the Mission/About section were compiled from their websites.

Mission/About: Founded in 1989, Ma-Yi Theater Company is an Obie Award-winning, not-or-profit 501(3)(c) organization whose primary mission is to develop new plays and performance works that essay Asian American experiences. We provide a home where artists can take big creative risks and investigate new avenues of collaboration as they hone individual and collective skills. We encourage our artists to engage their communities in vigorous dialogues that push Asian American aesthetics beyond easily identifiable Orientalist markers. We challenge popular prescriptions of what culturally specific theater should be by producing challenging, forward-thinking plays written by today's emerging crop of new playwrights.

Mission/About: The National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) was founded in 1989 by Richard Eng and Mia Katigbak to: Promote and support Asian American actors, directors, designers, and technicians through the performance of European and American classical and contemporary works - Actively develop an Asian American audience and encourage Asian Americans to become a significant part of a more diverse audience in American theatre - Cultivate in non-Asian Americans an appreciation of Asian American contributions to the development of theatre arts in America today.

Right now they are going through a period of restructuring - and putting out a call to help save the AATC, and with the help of patrons and a strong community behind them, they can hopefully continue in their service for giving a place for Asian-American artists to have a voice on the stage.

Mission/About: The Asian American Theater Company (AATC) was established in 1973 to develop and present original works of theater about Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. Three decades later, we are still committed to producing groundbreaking, entertaining and innovative art. We are not only a production company, but also a workshop where Asian Pacific Islander writers, actors and directors can explore ideas, understanding that we won't always know where those ideas will lead. Whether these works end up in video, on film or on stage, they carry with them the Asian American Theater's purpose: to explore who we are as a people and a community, and in so doing, to bring us closer together.

Mission/About: Our mission is to create theatrical productions that celebrate the Asian American experience, and present fresh perspectives on traditional works. AART is dedicated to the production of plays by Asian American dramatists, and the development and support of Asian American theatre artists. These plays generally, but not exclusively, feature the voices of the Asian American community. Such plays give actors opportunities to perform in roles they would otherwise have little chance to do in "mainstream" theatres. Similarly, the production of non-Asian plays has always been a vital part of our work, giving audiences a chance to see Asian Americans as simply, Americans -- beyond race, beyond preconceptions, beyond boundaries.

About: The Pork Filed Players is Seattle second oldest sketch comedy group. Since 1997, PFP has been the Northwest's premiere Asian American sketch comedy group, touring from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, BC, racking up appearances at the very first two Seattle Sketchfests, Bumbershoot 2004 and SketchOff@%#?!, the first international Asian sketch comedy competition. Over the years, the Players have employed an ever changing cast of characters in their never-ending battle for truth, pursuit of justice and finding out whatever the hell they mean by the American way of life in the 21st Century.

About: SIS Productions was created because of the lack of representation of Asian Americans on television and in film, and something was needed to help fill that void locally. SIS Productions strives to provide more opportunities for local Asian American artists to work, and more importantly to provide the chance for those who were interested in taking on positions of leadership by giving them a chance to produce. By giving Asian Americans the opportunity to produce, to write, to direct, to design, and to act, SIS hopes to help develop more APA's with viable skills in this field, and therefore create greater visibility for them.

Mission/About: To be a premiere artistic company that creates theater and taiko from the heart of the Asian American experience. We give theatrical voice and vision to the stories of our Asian American community and culture. We create and interpret works born of the union of Asian and American cultures. We envision theater as a total sensory experience, merging ancient forms, traditions and stories with contemporary ones. We are committed to the development of new artists. We create works that move, provoke and challenge our audiences to understand, embrace and celebrate cultural diversity.

Mission/About: Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America was founded in 1992 to produce works for and by Asian artists. Since then, it has presented 76 events, and has become New York’s most significant entry point for dramatic works from Chinese-speaking countries and a place of collaboration for artists from various parts of Asia. Yangtze and its artistic director have been responsible for the New York debuts of many notable artists, including Dr. Wang XiaoYing, Deputy Director of China's National Theater in Beijing, and Gao Xingjian, the 2000 Nobel Laureate in Literature, who was brought to NY by Yangtze to direct his own play, "Between Life and Death," and to present a showing of his ink paintings.

Mission/About: To celebrate the artistic expressiveness of Asian and American theatre artists under the highest standards of professional theatre; and professional productions; To encourage the production of new plays, especially those with contemporary Asian American themes; To draw upon the unique heritage of Asian Americans by utilizing the style, music and movement of Asian performing arts traditions in order to explore new theatrical forms; To nurture emerging Asian American talent through professionally led workshops and on-the-job training; To introduce Asian American Theatre to the general theatre-going public as well as the differently-abled; to deepen the appreciation and understanding of the Asian American cultural heritage.

Mission/About: Created in response to community concerns about racial tension, the Asian Arts Initiative began programming in May 1993 with Philadelphia’s first- ever Asian American Arts Festival: “Live Traditions/Contemporary Issues” at the Painted Bride Art Center. The Asian Arts Initiative has since expanded to become a community arts center that offers performances, exhibitions, workshops, and training for artists and everyday people who share our mission of community-based arts. We are grounded in the belief that all people have the right to creative expression, and that the arts can provide an important voice for Asian Americans and other groups whose lives and stories are marginalized in our society.

About: Since 2002, Room To Improv has been entertaining audiences with its brand of improvisation. Founded by Elvin Lubrin, RTI seeks to create a space for Asian Americans to tell stories and to examine issues that are humorous to a diverse audience.

Mission/About: Established in 1965, East West Players has been called “the nation’s pre-eminent Asian American theater troupe” (New York Times 12/16/01) for our award-winning productions blending Eastern and Western movement, costumes, language, and music. EWP has premiered over 100 plays and musicals about the Asian Pacific American experience and has held over 1,000 readings and workshops. Our emphasis is on building bridges between East and West, and one measure of our success is an audience of 56% Asians and a remarkable 44% non-Asian attendance.

About: hereandnow is a compelling Asian American theatre company that has performed across the nation for the past 17 years. hereandnow uses the collective voices of its diverse cast to reach out to the audience through universal themes of the show: that everyone comes from a unique experience, and that all people have stories to share.The hereandnow theatre company was founded in 1989 by John Miyasaki, with a group of young Asian Americans frustrated by the lack of non-stereotypical roles in plays, musicals, television and film. From its humble beginnings at East Los Angeles College hereandnow has grown and toured to over 200 different colleges, theatres and festivals.

About: THE 18 MIGHTY MOUNTAIN WARRIORS grew out of a comedy ensemble called the New Godzilla Theater in residence at Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco from 1993-1994. Since its premiere production, In Deep Shabu Shabu, in September 1994, the group has written and produced a dozen feature shows, performed numerous workshop productions and benefit one-night stands around the greater Bay Area, and toured nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, arts festivals and theatrical venues. The group is also known for its various “performances” at bars and clubs in San Francisco’s Japantown and Tenderloin districts.

About: COLD TOFU’s goals are to present Asian American life from a new perspective and bridge the gap between performer and audience through pure entertainment and comedy. Asked what COLD TOFU is interested in portraying, Tokuda replies: “Human beings. That Asians growing up in America are like anyone else. Hopefully, the audience will come away a little less judgmental and more political aware, and be entertained and have a good time, too.”Over the years many have joined the ranks of COLD TOFU, including Amy Hill, Sab Shimono, Michael Paul Chan, and Dom Magwili. Though the cast has changed over the years, the mission of COLD TOFU has persevered: to promote diverse images of Asian Pacific Americans through comedy and to develop multiethnic talent through education and performance.

2008 Year In Review

If you're looking for the 2008 In Review Posts, the link list has been moved out, but you can still get to them all by following this link which pulls them up by label (they'll be in reverse so go to the oldest post to read them in order).

2007 In Review Posts

If you're looking for the 2007 In Review Posts, the link list has been moved out, but you can still get to them all by following this link which pulls them up by label (they'll be in reverse so go to the oldest post to read them in order).

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